Only this time was perfect

SCOTT JACOBS

Roy Halladay may be the best, but today Mark Buerhle was perfect.

Add that to a World Series ring, and a no hitter, and the fact that it was against the 2008 AL Champion Rays, and well, not bad Mark, not bad at all.

Just a few weeks removed from Johnathan Sanchez’s no hitter (though I would argue it should have been a perfect game), Buerhle went out and stifled a dangerous Rays lineup to the tune of a lights out performance for the ages.  Might we add it came in an important pennant chase with the Sox trailing the Tigers.

But that’s neither here nor there.  Buerhle’s stat line for the game: 116 pitches, 76 for strikes, and he only needed 6 strikeouts.  But don’t let the strikeouts fool you: Buerhle was the one fooling hitters all day, and this wasn’t the depleted Padres lineup that the previously unheralded Sanchez disposed of.  This was a dynamic Rays offense, a team 10 games above .500.

Jason Bartlett, one of a number of Rays all stars, grounded out to short, and cemented the perfect game, but it was the catch from Dewayne Wise, robbing Gabe Kapler of a sure home run, that will be immortalized for years to come.  You will see that catch over, and over, and over.  Wise ran up the wall in complete stride, and reached out to record the first out in the ninth, and from there, you just knew it was Buerhle’s day.

With the win, correct that– perfection, Buerhle improved to 11-3.  With the perfect game, the first since Randy Johnson’s stellar game against the Braves in 2004, Buerhle established himself as one of the game’s most underappreciated stars.  Seriously, he’s now gone two games in his career while retiring the minimum of 27 batters.  One being the no hitter, and today’s perfect game.

So congrats Buerhle.  For one day at least Roy Halladay is not the top story.

Popularity: 2% [?]